


You Cut The Peace Out Of Me

by Kyrene3



Category: World Wrestling Entertainment
Genre: After Seth Calls Dean a Jerk, Angst, Before Dean's Failed Fist Bump, Heavy Angst, Kayfabe Compliant, M/M, Raw 8/7/17
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-02
Updated: 2018-10-02
Packaged: 2019-07-23 20:54:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,776
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16166831
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kyrene3/pseuds/Kyrene3
Summary: “What do I have to do?”Dean stops himself from punching a locker. Punching Seth. Slamming Seth’s head into a locker.“You can start by getting out of my locker room,” he replies, calmly – which is important. Hell, he should get a medal for how goddamned calm he is.





	You Cut The Peace Out Of Me

**Author's Note:**

> This is in response to my chats with alilyinghighgarden about my issues with how they got back together. I needed more. Especially if in fandom we assume a romantic relationship. 
> 
> Thank you to Sobriquet for betaing when she knows literally nothing about wrestling stuff, and alilyinhighgarden for also betaing and rooting me on. You should read her stuff. 
> 
> Also, yes, I acknowledge the irony in my timing considering what's currently happening with these two on Raw.
> 
> EDIT: I forgot to mention. The title is from the song Broken Pieces by Apocalyptica. The song is actually about a bad breakup but some of the lines makes me think of these two so there we go.

“What do I have to do?”

Dean stops himself from punching a locker. Punching Seth. Slamming Seth’s head  _ into _ a locker. 

“You can start by getting out of my locker room,” he replies, calmly – which is important. Hell, he should get a fucking medal for how goddamned calm he is. 

“ _ Dean _ . I’m  _ trying _ here,” Seth replies, still there. Seth doesn’t leave situations when he should. For a little while he did. There was a time when Seth would take one look at Dean and run for cover. But that was Before.  It was Before the brand split, Before Triple H double crossed him, Before Seth got everything he deserved and decided he didn’t make the best choices. 

Now Seth feels guilty. Now Seth regrets. Now Seth is  _ trying _ .

“What exactly do you want me to say?” Dean forced himself to ask. 

The locker room is small, too small. It’s not always too small, sometimes it’s perfect, but sometimes the walls close in and Dean needs to leave but he can’t leave because there he is,  _ Seth _ , somehow walking  _ further into the tiny room. _

“Dean–” But Seth can never let things go. When he’s determined, when he’s focused, it doesn’t matter what it is. He wants Dean’s ‘forgiveness’ for whatever fucking reason and he won’t stop until he gets it. 

Or until Dean rams his head into a locker over and over again. It never worked to shut him up before, but who knows? Maybe Dean should give it a shot again. 

“From where I’m standing there’s been a lot of talking, the issue seems to be that I’m not saying what you want to hear.” And Dean never would. 

“Look, there’s no camera, no audience. It’s just you and me.”  Seth has a way of being sincere, even when he isn’t. Dean learned that the hard way. 

But it’s tempting. With his stupid big brown eyes, eyes that used to stare at Dean with something Dean thought was love, eyes that stared at him with something Dean knew was resentment, anger, and hate. 

His expression is shifting to frustration in Dean’s silence. Like he cares. Like Dean is someone worth caring for. 

Like something in Seth’s life might actually change if Dean doesn’t forgive him. 

“Come  _ on _ , I  _ know _ you. There’s more you wanna say!”

‘I  _ know _ you’, he says. Yea sure, he knew Dean once. He knew everything  _ about  _ Dean, everything Dean was willing to share. Dean told Seth more about himself than he’d told anyone. 

And what did Seth do with that information?

The lockers are suddenly so close Dean feels like he wouldn’t be able to stretch his arms out if he tried. Everything is closing in. Seth is suddenly so close. Seth is  _ too _ close. Seth is  _ always _ too close. 

Dean takes a deep breath, clenches his hands into fists. “If you knew anything about me, you’d know it’s time to leave now.”

But Seth doesn’t leave. Instead he runs his hands through his hair. “Aren’t you  _ tired _ of this?! This constant fighting?! Can’t we just…move on.”

_ ‘Aren’t you tired of this? Dean, you just, you need to let it go. Not for him, for you.’  _ Roman had begged him to forgive Seth months ago. Said it wasn’t healthy. Said it was good for closure. That continuing to hold a grudge would just hurt Dean more. 

Seth never had to say sorry to Roman, Roman barely seemed to care. St. Roman doesn’t hold grudges, at least not against Seth. 

_ ‘You don’t have to believe it but, Dean, he’s changed.’ _ St. Roman believes in redemption, believes guilt should be rewarded. 

Apparently Dean has been quiet too long because Seth is talking again. “I know I hurt you…”

Like some goddamned movie. Like Dean’s supposed to start spouting some ‘you had me at hello’ bullshit. 

“You don’t know  _ shit _ . What do you think this is? Some goddamned fairytale? You slay the evil King and get to fuck the princess? News flash, you aren’t the prince of the story; you’re the evil witch who cursed the princess in the first place.”

And on what goddamned planet is Dean a princess in  _ any  _ scenario. When did he become this guy? 

Dean never really liked himself, but he’d been finding some comfort in his own skin until Seth ripped everything away from him. 

“You’re hardly a princess and I know I’m no hero-“

“Do you? Watching you these past few months it kind of seems like you’ve forgotten.” Because Seth has changed, because Seth faced his demons and won, because Seth is the Kingslayer. 

Nothing will change for Seth if Dean never forgives him. Dean is just a bonus. One last hurdle for Seth to clear to finish his mighty quest for redemption. 

At this point, if Dean doesn’t give in he’s just the bad guy. Again. Like always. 

(He used to relish being the bad guy, pushed everyone away, crushed every outstretched hand under his foot just to hear the bones crunch. Who the fuck was he any more?)

“So what? That’s it? I either stay the villain or spend the rest of my life paying for one stupid mistake?” Seth yells, all traces of calm disappearing.

Dean grabs Seth this time, grabs his stupid head between his palms and bashes it into those lockers until his forehead cracks open, blood pouring down his face and–

No. Dean hasn’t moved. Seth’s head is smooth and unblemished. 

Dean tries to breathe. Tries to relax. 

But all he can think about is Seth hitting Roman with a chair, Seth’s fists coming at him over and over, Seth’s foot slamming him into cinder blocks, Seth spewing hate at him in a way that cut deeper than anything else and his fucking cackle. 

“One stupid– one stupid fucking mistake? That’s what it all comes down to. Which one exactly, was the  _ one _ mistake?” Dean would like it if he could breathe.

Seth is scrambling now. “That’s not what I–“ 

Dean is so tired of beating around the bush. “Me and you, right? That’s what you want to talk about; you want to talk about  _ us _ . You really gonna make me say it? Fine, there is no  _ us _ , Seth, you destroyed any chance of  _ us _ .”

“We don’t… we don’t have to be what we were. It doesn’t have to be like… Can’t we be friends? Acquaintances? Work colleagues who do more than simply tolerate each other?”

Has Seth ever meant anything less? Has he ever been just a guy? 

Dean first saw Seth as Tyler Black through clips of matches, kept missing him, never got to fight him. Back then Dean was calling himself Jon Moxley, and Mox never said it but he would watch those clips over and over again anytime he got near a computer. Tyler Black was something special. 

And then he was Seth Rollins, the obsession that brought Dean to WWE until Seth Rollins knew exactly who Dean Ambrose was. And when he finally thought he would be able to let go, to move on, when beating Regal seemed more important than anything… there was Seth. Pulling Dean back. 

And Dean would have stayed. Everything Seth did had Dean’s attention: every move, every gesture, every touch. 

Sometimes Dean would wonder if maybe  _ he _ had become neglectful, if maybe he hadn’t said it enough. Dean wasn’t a relationship man, he must have fucked something up. Or maybe Seth had finally figured out that the only thing Dean was good for was violence… Because there was Seth again, pulling Dean back into a fight. 

And now, after Seth was just a face on a screen for months, after so long of their paths not crossing, after Dean had spent so long trying to bury everything deep deep deep into the blackest hole of his heart…

“Dean, anything, I just need to be a part of your life, however you want me to be.”

But Seth has a tendency towards grabbing that shovel and digging until Dean is bare and hollow and waiting for Seth to fill every nook and cranny. 

And he wants to be friends?

“You can… you can do that? You can just…” Dean is reaching out before he can stop himself. Clearly Seth was not as close as he seemed because Dean has to stretch his arm. 

There’s a softness to Seth sometimes, one that Dean wants to touch. A calmness Dean wants to pull into himself. Seth’s beard is as soft as always, his skin warm to the touch and Seth… Seth closes his eyes, leans into Dean’s palm. 

Seth who can be Dean’s friend. Dean’s acquaintance. Dean’s work colleague who he does more than barely tolerate. 

Seth who used to love him. Used to say he did. 

Seth who’s good at putting on a show. 

Seth is a liar. 

Dean drops his hand to keep from squeezing, digging his nails in and-- 

“But you’re good at faking it, right Seth? So good I barely know what’s up and what’s down with you. I thought I did once but I, uh, I didn’t know much of anything. I thought you were someone I could trust, someone who could… could love me, no matter how  _ broken _ I am.”

“You aren’t–“ 

“But instead you did what everyone else does – no, no that’s not true, what you did was worse. I’d finally let my guard down, fucking tin man got a heart only to have it ripped to shreds. I’d been called crazy, I’d been called worthless, I’d been called everything in the book, but from you?”

“I fucked up, it’s me, I was… I got my priorities messed up, I–”

Seth is frantic now, stepping closer and Dean really is pressed against the lockers now, a lock digging into his back. 

Dean wants to stop talking, but there’s Seth with that shovel, digging away. “Maybe not. Dad had his life of crime, Mom had her drugs; hell, Roman has his own shit now too… Maybe I’m just easily swept to the side. Probably shouldn’t expect so much…”

“That’s not–“

But it doesn’t matter what Seth says because now it’s in Dean’s head. Now it’s the only thing he can think about. 

It’s not a new thought, just one he’d buried away long before Seth had come into the picture. 

Maybe he does expect too much. Maybe everything would be easier if he just gave in. 

And maybe the walls weren’t closed in. Maybe Seth wasn’t blocking the door. Maybe Dean is just that good at finding an exit.

“I gotta go… I have a match.”

Dean is out the door before Seth can say another word. 


End file.
